Injuries force Texans to overhaul linebacking corps

In the NFL, opportunity knocks in the cruelest of ways. Injuries, inevitable in this violent game, open doors. Brooks Reed walked through one as a rookie last year when Mario Williams tore a pectoral muscle. Now with Reed off to rehab because of a severe groin strain suffered in Detroit, another rookie, Whitney Mercilus, crosses the same threshold.

The Texans’ top draft choice in 2012 will make his first start against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at the expense of the Texans’ second pick in 2011.

“We’ve told (Mercilus) it’s his time and he has to come through for us,” defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said Thursday. “It’s a lot like what we told Brooks last year. ‘You’ve got to go out and play — and play well.’ ”

Mercilus knows what’s expected of him.

“Somebody goes down, the next man has to be ready, and I feel like I’m ready,” he said. “I know I’ve got to get things right this week.”

In 2011, Reed was the starter from the sixth game on and responded with a season that made Williams expendable. Phillips insisted there’s no reason why Mercilus, who delivered one of the greatest seasons in college football history as a junior defensive end at Illinois a year ago with 16 sacks and nine forced fumbles, can’t step up as impressively as Reed did.

“He played about 70 plays (in Detroit) after getting some good experience earlier,” Phillips said. “He realizes the speed of the (NFL) game now, and he’s very talented.”

But the high-profile rookie isn’t the only linebacker on the spot as the Texans launch their final playoff push. In just his third game since returning from a 12-month hiatus brought about by a torn quad tendon, third-year pro Darryl Sharpton will find himself having to make the defensive calls in Nashville with Bradie James slowed by a hamstring injury and Tim Dobbins dealing with a shoulder issue.

“They’ve been preparing me,” Sharpton said. “Every week I’ve been getting more and more responsibility. I feel I had a good week of practice, and I’ve got another day to go. I’m confident; I’m comfortable. I’ve (called defenses) before, and I’ve played linebacker my whole life. I’m ready to handle it. It’s a great honor that (Phillips) has bestowed that kind of responsibility on me.

“We’re facing some adversity right now, but we’ve got guys we can plug in to reload. We can handle it.”

Clutch initiation
And Barrett Ruud, himself a Texan for less than two months, might also start in place of James. If Ruud gets the call, the Texans will have had a complete turnover at linebacker since they played the New York Jets on “Monday Night Football” on Oct. 8.

That was the game in which Brian Cushing went down with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The defense has been mostly trending in the wrong direction ever since, but the situation turned critical on Thanksgiving when James and Reed were injured — after Dobbins had been unable to answer the bell.

Howver, Ruud showed his mettle by breaking up consecutive passes to tight end Brandon Pettigrew with less than two minutes left in regulation that, had they been completed, would have put the Lions in Texans territory and homing in on winning-field-goal range. On the second, Ruud literally reached in and pried the ball from Pettigrew’s hands.

Ruud at the ready
“It’s tough to prepare when you don’t know if you’re going to play or not,” said the eight-year veteran, who might have been the last Texan to leave the stadium Thursday because he was holed up studying video of the Titans, a team he started nine games for in 2011. “But there’s no worse feeling than to get your number called and feel like you haven’t done enough to get ready. I assumed I was going to play at some point, so I prepared all week like I was going to play.”

Of his emergency heroics, Ruud said: “That first (pass) was pretty easy, just a shallow route, and we went for the ball at the same time. The second one down the middle was a little tougher, one of the tougher ones you face as a linebacker.”

Ruud had been a stalwart at Tampa Bay, starting all but one game from 2007 through 2010 and leading the Buccaneers in tackles each of those seasons. He signed with Seattle in April hoping “to jump-start my career there” but was hindered by both the lockout and a training camp shoulder injury. He was traded to New Orleans in August “for insurance” because of how “Bountygate” had decimated the defense there. The Texans signed him two days after the Saints released him.

He came to Houston having never played a down in a 3-4 defensive scheme. It concerned him at first, but he has found the adjustment to be surprisingly smooth.

“Wade’s version of the 3-4 isn’t as different as I thought it would be,” Ruud said, “so the transition hasn’t been as tough as I expected. It’s structured a lot like some of the stuff I’ve done, especially in coverage, and it’s real player-friendly. You can learn it quick. It’s just a matter of getting the reps, getting comfortable with the players around you.”

Save for Cushing, the injured linebackers will all return at some point — certainly in time for the postseason — but team dynamics may have changed by then. The Texans weren’t playing well defensively when the latest dominos fell, so should the temporary changes prove positive, they could become permanent. While there’s an unwritten NFL rule that players don’t lose their jobs because of injuries, it’s frequently broken.

Ironically, Reed’s going down could impact Connor Barwin, who switches outside linebacker spots, the most. He’s in the last year of his contract and was already struggling to get his sack numbers up to where they need to be for maximum negotiating leverage, although Phillips noted, “I’ve had guys playing ‘Sam’ who led the league in sacks.” Of course, no one wants to address those kinds of big-picture ramifications now, with the Texans front and center in the Super Bowl race.

“There’s a little more studying involved,” he said. “I’ve got to look at different (receivers’) routes than I do at ‘Will.’ It’s really more of playing a true linebacker. ‘Will’ is more of a defensive end position. It’s fun rushing the passer on every single play, but you do more different things throughout the game at ‘Sam.’ ”

Some have questioned why Mercilus, given his lofty draft status, didn’t contribute more early. Phillips admitted he simply wasn’t ready. Again, Mercilus played on the D-line in college.

“I’ve still got a lot to learn,” Mercilus said, “but I’ve improved my game, and now it’s time to go. I’ve got to grow up fast and take advantage of the opportunity.”